Folks. We are going to go through growing pains. Plain and simple. We won't be 4-8. But we will be in the bottom half of the West. The defense will have to learn a new scheme. The defense will have to play A LOT of minutes. I hope I am wrong but 7-5 tops.

I actually think we will do better than most think. Today's game is engineered to give the offense every advantage available. Pretty much legalized holding everywhere, can't target receivers, can't target qbs, etc. We are finally going to run the type offense that takes the most advantage of the current rules of the game. Ole Miss beat Bama because of a wide open offense and having a defense good enough to hold them off. You have to play teams that have more talent on the field in space giving your guys a chance to use scheme to offset that talent advantage.

4.4 is the same whether you are rated 5 star or 2 star. Where Bama beats up on people is having the edge on the defensive line and linebackers. CBB was never going to overcome that advantage with his system. CCM may not either but at least his offense puts his skill players out in space and can level the playing field so to speak by putting his 4.4 WR's one on one with Bama's 4.4 dbs. That scenario is much more favorable to us than trying to run headlong into superior talent all day. This principle holds true against LSU, Auburn, Georgia, etc. You also spread out Bama's or any other SEC teams defense to try and create better running lanes for your oline to create or take advantage of.

The key is going to be how well our defense can slow down or stop other SEC offenses and give ours a chance to outscore them. As others have pointed out, we are normally going to be playing against higher rated players and that isn't changing any time soon. Petrino proved that we COULD outperform the recruiting rankings if we can take advantage of a high powered offensive system and have a defense good enough to be serviceable.

Did you even THINK about what he is saying. If you have more 4 stars on the roster vs 2 stars then it is logical MATHEMATICALLY that your 3 and 4 stars will be higher in number than your 3 and 2 stars, thus your team being comprised with more 3 and 4 stars than 2 and 3 stars. Really not that complicated.

According to 247Sports, the following guys were 2*: Nate Garner, Jamaal Anderson, Johnathan Luigs, Ray Dominguez, Zach Hocker, Javontee Herndon, Drew Morgan. Those are just the ones I found in one quick look-thru. I'm sure there are more.

According to 247Sports, the following guys were 2*: Nate Garner, Jamaal Anderson, Johnathan Luigs, Ray Dominguez, Zach Hocker, Javontee Herndon, Drew Morgan. Those are just the ones I found in one quick look-thru. I'm sure there are more.

Did you even THINK about what he is saying. If you have more 4 stars on the roster vs 2 stars then it is logical MATHEMATICALLY that your 3 and 4 stars will be higher in number than your 3 and 2 stars, thus your team being comprised with more 3 and 4 stars than 2 and 3 stars. Really not that complicated.

We haven't seen the roster yet...none of what you type can be proven. Post the roster.

The roster looks like about 90% of all p5 schools, so why does that make some people so defensive. It is not like people are saying the roster is crap, just that it, for a p5 school, is average. The biggest issue, as pointed out, of the teams that are above average many are in the same conference as the Hogs.

Right. Because the guys coaching at Alabama have nothing to do with it. Not like those recruits play for the greatest college football coach ever or anything. The players just develop themselves and coach themselves.

The poster remains correct, it is a roster made up of 2 and 3 star players.

Why are you going out of your way to confirm something that is clearly inaccurate? We probably have more 4* scholarship players than 2*; if not, it's close. Using your logic, we are a team of 2-, 3- and 4-star players. But the truth is: we are a team of 3-star players. That's where the vast majority of our scholarship players come from: the 3-star pool.

If we asked all of our players to commit to AL first. Then decommit from AL and commit to AR, we would have all 4 stars players.

Historically, if you are 4 star playing for AR you have a higher % chance of getting to the NFL than if you are 4 star playing for AL. It's 'cause of the AL bump so their fans will subscribe to the rating services.

The problem with the subcription claim, which I know does happen on some level, is that claiming such always implys that Bama's talent is overrated due to higher subcriptions, while our talent is underrated due to lower subscriptions. It's pretty obvious from watching the games every year that such an implication is patently false.

The problem with the subcription claim, which I know does happen on some level, is that claiming such always implys that Bama's talent is overrated due to higher subcriptions, while our talent is underrated due to lower subscriptions. It's pretty obvious from watching the games every year that such an implication is patently false.

Problem with the star rankings is that you do not get to see the different shades of gray in a star. Some were almost 5* and some were almost 3*. If you overlay some of the other ranking services that give a grade, as opposed to a *, you can see that all 4*s are not made equally. When some of Bama's and theOSU 4* players grade lower than other teams 3*s(LSU for example), it makes you go hmmmm.

The worst is the fighting Irish. Lot of those come from private school with different competition that public schools. 5 stars feel more legit.

Problem with the star rankings is that you do not get to see the different shades of gray in a star. Some were almost 5* and some were almost 3*. If you overlay some of the other ranking services that give a grade, as opposed to a *, you can see that all 4*s are not made equally. When some of Bama's and theOSU 4* players grade lower than other teams 3*s(LSU for example), it makes you go hmmmm.

The worst is the fighting Irish. Lot of those come from private school with different competition that public schools. 5 stars feel more legit.

I agree, but I think you're arguing the exception, not the rule. And I bet it's a fairly small exception too.

I'm just irked at the constant subscription claims. It's significanly overstated by fans from have-not schools like ours in an effort to excuse our recruiting each year. It just isn't a legitimate argument on the whole. And I don't fault UA coaching staffs, because they're at a huge recruiting disadvantage. Always have been. It's a legitimate problem. Just don't be dishonest about it all. Call a spade a spade.

Yea cause the teams playing for titles in the p5 leagues or in the college fb playoffs are usually teams that do not rank highly in recruiting. [/quoteor it could be if I am a "guru" working for one of those "guru" publications, I'll automatically give any bamma recruit 4 stars cause everyone in the free world nd 50% of communist china know Nick Satan don't make mistakes in recruiting. Same for THE Ohst. OU, FSU, Clemson, so on and so forth. Hell I can make my weekly quota and weekly pay check just by making a couple humdred phone calls asking 17-18 football players who is recruiting them. I wont have to leave my desk, or watch a single film and can be right 50%. That's all it takes in some of you guy's eyes. If the expert said it, it must be true. And because I am a "guru" working for a "guru" service with website and magazine subscriptions. wellllllllll I just have to know,, ya know,, HAVE ta

I agree, but I think you're arguing the exception, not the rule. And I bet it's a fairly small exception too.

I'm just irked at the constant subscription claims. It's significanly overstated by fans from have-not schools like ours in an effort to excuse our recruiting each year. It just isn't a legitimate argument on the whole. And I don't fault UA coaching staffs, because they're at a huge recruiting disadvantage. Always have been. It's a legitimate problem. Just don't be dishonest about it all. Call a spade a spade.

I am an Irish fan too. Feels like they get the same benefit as AL. Seems easier to pick the top 30 players for a class than the top 300. Once you get past 150 there isn't a lot of difference. So the opportunity to assume that AL will not recruit anyone that is not one of the top 300 players in the country is not hard to imagine. Truth is there is no difference between 300th best player and 301th best player. But one gets 4stars and one gets 3stars. And... the team that gets #300 is happy and the one that get #301 complains for no legit reason. Difference between 200-400 is marginal at best and you will get as many different rankings of these players as services for these spots. it happens and it is not overstated.

I am an Irish fan too. Feels like they get the same benefit as AL. Seems easier to pick the top 30 players for a class than the top 300. Once you get past 150 there isn't a lot of difference. So the opportunity to assume that AL will not recruit anyone that is not one of the top 300 players in the country is not hard to imagine. Truth is there is no difference between 300th best player and 301th best player. But one gets 4stars and one gets 3stars. And... the team that gets #300 is happy and the one that get #301 complains for no legit reason. Difference between 200-400 is marginal at best and you will get as many different rankings of these players as services for these spots. it happens and it is not overstated.

But I'm talking about the actual elite players. The obvious elite players that all the big boys are after. The obvious elite players that go to the big boy programs in droves. The ones that are easy and obvious to assign 4 stars. The ones in the top 150. Programs like Bama, Clemson, tOSU, etc...get at least a dozen of those every class. We get maybe 1 or 2 of them, and that's all that matters. It's a monumental difference.

Everybody knows it gets fuzzy once you get to say 200-400. Heck we probably don't even get a bunch that fall in that range either.

I heard this side of the argument on the radio yesterday and it makes a lot of sense. We have recruited in the top 25 (average) the last 5 years - we have a roster full of these guys at the moment - we have a chance to be good if we can develop these players.

I read another thread where it said 2 star guys make it to the NFL and ALL SEC at a higher rate than 3 star guys...following this logic, if Coach Morris can develop the talent that is CURRENTLY on the roster that we have a chance to be competitive quicker than some believe. We HAVE had solid recruiting over the last 5 years - why would there NOT be talent on the roster? Did we miss on recruits that much under CBB?

It's all about player development in my opinion. We will see how good this staff is at player development.

Since the 2013 recruiting class, according to 24/7:

5 4 3 2 Total 1 26 99 5 131 0.8% 19.8% 75.6% 3.8% 100%

Just sayin, more 4 and 3 stars than we ever signed 2 stars. I'd say your show is slanting the truth a bit.

Don't knock 2-3 star players...they become All SEC and go the the NFL at a higher clip than any other star....

Well, simple math dictates that be so, but on a percentage basis, they don't. In other words, and just rounding, I believe something like 50% of 5 stars get drafted, 30% of 4 stars get drafted, and maybe 10% to 15% of 3 stars get drafted. It just so happens at that there's probably 5x more 3 stars each year than 4 stars.

The key is signing those 3 stars that are NFL talents in significantly higher numbers. Programs have been unable to do that. I mean Trey Flowers was a 3 star who actually turned out to be a 4 star, and if we had a roster full of 3 star talents like Flowers, then sure, we'd be competing for championships. But we don't. Probably no program on our level does. But just about every 4 star at Bama is probably as talented as Flowers.

I'd bet that of the 44 players who just started the Super Bowl, 30 of them were 3 stars. But how many of those 3 stars came from the same college program? Maybe none, because they're all actually spread out over dozens of programs. And that's the key.

The issue is, and since there is really no other way to quantify it we have to use stars, well over half the sec recruits better than do the Hogs. This year, 27th in the nation was either 9th or 10th in the sec. When your opponents CONSISTENTLY get better players, they are going to beat you more often than not.

this sums it right up perfectly. When some want to point out that we have ranked in the top 25 over the past years, it is really out of context because usually there are 9-11 SEC teams who do better. So we can be in top 25 nationally yet be going backwards in the conference.

My hope is that CCM will excite the kids out there on the recruiting trail and they will want to come to Fayetteville cause they want to be a part of something special. Meanwhile, CCM and his staff gonna have to "coach em up" for awhile.

It really shows how the rich keep getting richer but alot of it is about resources in state. For example, Texas got 10 of their top 13, Louisiana got 10 of their top 16, we got 5 of the top 9. Yet our top 5 don't stack up as well against their top 5. As long as we continue to lose the SEC recruiting battle our national rank is irrelevant. We always have good players but often not better. We will imo have to rely on catching lightning in a bottle with the right combination of great scheme, coaching and players. I’m hopeful for the new regime as we are due.

Well that is because he is talking about our 85 scholarship players and you are talking about all 105, to include guys that have very little chance of ever seeing the field.

Title of thread says says ROSTER - not scholarship recipients

The ROSTER is 105 people

We are a team loaded with 2 and 3 star guys (or below) when looking at the 105 man roster.

Why it took us this long to get here is sad. Why argue with facts?

Don't knock walkons - some are preferred, others turn out to be studs- Brandon Burlsworth ring a bell? Some WERE studs but had late injuries, behavior issues in h.s. etc, etc.. walkons are a very important part of the team.

We have lots of talent that needs to be DEVELOPED, I think CCM is a good developer of talent. I think he will take the kids CBB recruited and win with them.

It's not my show....a guy calling into Bo's show was giving success stats on 2/3 star guys. It a GOOD thing to have players to develop on a roster, not bad. The problem is - CBB was not developing these players. I'm of the opinion that Coach Morris will do well with CBB's players.